Merkel backed as Germany's first woman Chancellor

BERLIN - Angela Merkel's bid to become Germany's first woman Chancellor was almost unanimously backed by her opposition conservatives yesterday as her demoralised party tried to recover from one of its worst-ever performances in last Sunday's inconclusive general election.

A special meeting of the Christian Democrat parliamentary party formally reinstated Mrs Merkel as their leader by 219- 222 votes.

The result put her firmly in place to lead the CDU in tortuous talks with other German parties aimed at forming a conservative-led coalition government.

Mrs Merkel hailed the outcome as a "vote of confidence" in her bid for the post of Chancellor. But there was little doubt that her party remained bitterly disappointed by her failure to achieve the majority it needed to form a government in last Sunday's election.

Under her leadership, the Christian Democrats beat Germany's ruling Social Democrats by a mere 0.9 per cent of the vote, thus depriving Mrs Merkel of the votes she needed to form a coalition with the liberal Free Democrats that would have ousted Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder from power.

Yesterday's show of party support for Mrs Merkel appeared little more than an attempt to buy her time.

The 51-year-old conservative leader is under increasing pressure to form a coalition with other parties and form a government that could elect her Chancellor.

With other parties apart from the liberals offering no prospect of an alliance so far, several Christian Democrats are discussing the possibility of their party forming what would be a highly vulnerable minority government as a last resort.

Horst Koehler, the German President, yesterday responded to international and business criticism of his country's failed election by urging all political parties to "work seriously at forming a coalition government as quickly as possible".

However Mrs Merkel's bid to form a new government with her at its head continued to face fierce opposition from Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder who has insisted that he will not contemplate forming a coalition with her as Chancellor.

His Social Democrats leaked plans to the mass circulation Bild newspaper yesterday, which envisaged Mr Schroeder remaining Chancellor of a so-called "grand coalition" with the conservatives, providing Mrs Merkel renounced her bid for the post.

"There has never been a German Chancellor prepared to sacrifice his job to allow a new government to be formed," the paper quoted SPD sources as saying,

"Schroeder is going to go down in party history as one of the great Chancellors," the source added.

The SPD appeared to be banking on Mrs Merkel failing to form a so-called "Jamaica coalition" with the liberal Free Democrats and Greens. In that case, the conservatives would be forced into negotiations with the Social Democrats over the formation of a grand coalition.

Bild said Mr Schroeder was convinced that the Christian Democrats would ditch Mrs Merkel if it was the price they had to pay to hold power in a grand coalition.

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